Spurred by the shooting death of a police officer in late October, City Council members met Monday to examine the mayor's plan to reduce violent crime in public housing, as NY1's Jose Martinez reports.
Fifteen of the city's roughest public housing developments have received extra police patrols this year, part of a more than $200-million-plan by Mayor de Blasio to make public housing safer. But critics say it's not enough.
"Over the past 10 years, even though the city has seen a steep reduction in violence, that violence has largely left public housing residents behind," said City Councilman Ritchie Torres, of the Bronx.
Shootings in all public housing developments are up, and the head of the City Council's Public Housing Committee says the police focus on the 15 high-crime housing development has come at the expense of others in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
"Some developments that are among the most dangerous are outside the target of the mayor's plan," Councilman Torres said. "Two notable examples are Sotomayor Houses, which saw an 87% increase in violent crime and Tilden Houses, which saw a 71% increase in violent crime."
On Monday, the NYPD, the Housing Authority and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice heard from public housing residents at a Council hearing in East Harlem.
"I just came to ask that there be more security," said NYCHA resident Dan Jones. "Instead of two cops on each corner, there be three cops on each corner, four cops on each corner. But at the same time they have to realize we're residents here, too, we're not the ones doing the problem."
"I want to be a part of the solution, to fix all this," said resident Leah James. "Because this is my home."
Through the first week of November, major crimes — which include murder, shootings and assaults — have fallen 10% at the 15 targeted NYCHA developments compared to the same period last year.
"We see promise, we see progress in 15 of the highest crime locations when not only is the crime going down, but it's going down as compared to other NYCHA developments," said Amy Sananman, with the Mayor's office of Criminal Justice. "That said, it's a big lift."
The hearing took place at the Johnson Houses in East Harlem, just blocks from the NYCHA housing complex where Police Officer Randolph Holder was shot to death in October.